Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay, but this story is back! There will be a few, probably around 3-5 more chapters before the conclusion. Happy reading!
fortunaflying: Thank you so much! I really appreciate your review!
"Fabala! Watch me! Watch me! Watch me!"
Elphaba couldn't help but watch, even though she knew what was going to happen. She opened her mouth to warn her little sister, but no sound came out. She tried to run towards her, but her feet were rooted to the spot. She heard the ice crack, and Nessa slowly fell through the ice with a deafening scream. As Nessa's head bobbed up and down, fighting to stay above the water, Elphaba's feet were finally freed and she ran onto the ice, which felt hard as rock.
As she ran across the pond, the scene changed, she was now skating with Fiyero. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist as he hugged her close. Then, a strong force pulled them apart and pulled Fiyero under the ice.
"Yero!" Elphaba screamed, her face contorting in horror as Fiyero pounded on the ice.
Their eyes locked for a clock-tick before Fiyero's closed and he slowly disappeared to the bottom of the pond, his arms and legs stretched out to her as he sunk.
"No! Yero!"
"This is your fault."
She turned at the voice. "Father… no. I… It's not… I didn't mean to –"
"Had you not been born, everything would be fine. Your mother would still be alive! So would my precious Nessarose!"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Your apologies are useless. You are useless. Nothing you say or do will ever make this right."
Elphaba turned away from her father, and came face-to-face with Fiyero and Galinda.
"I love you, Fifi," the blonde giggled, snuggling closer to him and creeping her hands around his neck. "We're so perfect together."
"I love you, too, Glin," the prince smiled, capturing her lips in a long kiss. "We deserve each other."
"He doesn't love you," a disembodied voice said. It surrounded her, and she was unable to tell where it was coming from. "No one could ever love a wicked witch. And that's what you are. A wicked witch."
"I am not wicked!" Elphaba argued, her breathing labored.
"You are. You're a distorted, repulsive excuse for a person. A waste of space. You should be the one in the cold, hard ground. Not your mother and sister. They don't deserve it. You do."
The green girl fell to her knees and covered her ears. "I am not! I am not!"
"Elphaba."
She looked up. "Fiyero…"
He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet. "I'm sorry."
"Yero, I –"
"I don't know what I was thinking before. I don't know what came over me."
"What are you talking about?"
"When I said I loved you. I don't know what came over me. But now that I'm back to normal, I'm going back to Galinda. You were right. Galinda and I belong together."
"Fiyero, you said –"
"I know what I said. But that doesn't mean I meant it."
"You promised me –"
"Promises can be broken. I thought you would be used to that."
Elphaba reached out and grabbed his hand, but as soon as she did, he met her pleading eyes with a look of pure disgust and hate. "Yero –"
"Get away from me!" he shouted, recoiling and marching away before she could answer.
"Fiyero! FIYERO!"
Elphaba shot up, disoriented as pain shot up from her back to her neck. She looked around, realizing that she had fallen asleep in the library. She glanced at the clock and quickly packed her belongings and hurried back to Crage Hall.
Galinda was sitting on her bed, painting her toenails. She looked up as the door opened, but frowned at her roommate's expression. "Miss Elphaba, is everything alright?"
"Yes," Elphaba breathed, still trying to calm down.
Galinda softened and slid off her bed, walking on her heels to her desk and retrieved a brown box. She opened it, the smell of white fudge cookies filling her nose and walked back to the green girl. "Here."
Elphaba looked up.
"You're upset. And cookies worked last time. But don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to tell me another secret. I just want you to have one."
Elphaba stared at the box before slowly reaching for a cookie. "Thank you," she whispered.
The blonde smiled as she returned the box to her desk and went back to her bed, pulling out a magazine and flipping through it. Elphaba ate the cookie, the question she wanted to ask Galinda bubbling on the tip of her tongue.
"Miss Galinda?"
The blonde looked up.
"Fiyero wants to take me out to The Return tonight, but I –"
"The Return? Isn't that the very fancy restaurant on the other side of town?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Is this a date?"
She bit her lip. "I… believe so."
The blonde beamed. "You're very first date ever?"
Elphaba gave her a look.
"What are you wearing?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you."
"Wise decision," Galinda said, checking to see if her nail polish was dry, which it was, before hopping off her bed. She flounced over to Elphaba's closet and threw it open, her eyes widening as she only laid eyes on uniforms and casual black and navy dresses. "Okay. I see we have an awfully long way to go. And only a few hours to do it."
"What are you –"
"I've decided to make you my new project and give you a makeover!"
"You really don't have to do that."
"I know, but I would like to. That's what makes me so nice. And Elphie –" She perked up. "Is it alright if I call you 'Elphie'?"
"Uh… it's a little perky." It was very perky.
"And you can call me 'Galinda', Miss Elphie!" Galinda exclaimed gaily.
"Please don't call me that."
"But I have to. How else will people know that we're friends now?"
Elphaba gaped at her. "Friends?"
Galinda slowed. "Yes. Friends."
"You want to be friends with the green freak?"
Galinda winced. "No, I want to be friends with Elphaba Thropp." She immediately went to work, getting out her supplies. She brushed her roommate's hair, allowing her fingers to run through the long tresses. "You have beautiful hair."
"Thank you."
"Why do you always wear it in that braid?"
"It's easier to manage."
"You should wear it out more."
"It's harder to manage and it gets in my face."
Galinda stopped brushing and ran to her vanity. She returned with a pink rose hairclip and fixed it into Elphaba's hair. "Pink goes good with green. And now, your hair won't get in your face," she giggled, starting on the makeup. Once she finished, she grabbed her mirror. "Why, Miss Elphie, look at you. You're beautiful."
Elphaba gently took the mirror and held it up. She bit her lip, not fully sure what she would see, but slowly relaxed as she looked at her reflection. Galinda had given her a light blush, eyeliner, and lip gloss. A smile slowly spread across her face and she chuckled softly. She looked back at the blonde and her smile faded. "Are you alright with this?"
"With my work? Of course I am."
"No, I mean, with me going out with Fiyero."
"Yes, I'm fine," Galinda said, aware that Elphaba was searching her face for the lie. "We decided that we're still going to be friends. We've both moved on."
"Oh."
Galinda moved over to her roommate's closet to do a second search for a dress. She reached in the back and pulled out the dress Elphaba wore to the ballet. "What about this?"
"That's what I wore to the theater."
"Well, I don't normally recommend wearing clothes twice in such a close time span, but I suppose I can make an exception for this. When is he coming to pick you up?"
"I'm meeting him downstairs."
The blonde had a feeling she knew why, so she didn't ask any more questions about it. Instead, she handed Elphaba the dress and practically pushed her into the bathroom.
"Wow," the blonde whispered when Elphaba came out, her mouth slightly agape. "You look… very pretty, Elphie."
"Thanks," Elphaba blushed, grabbing her sweater.
March was making its presence known, but it still wasn't warm enough to go out without an extra layer. She moved away, but stopped in the doorway. She turned and her lips twitched. "Thank you, Galinda."
Galinda wiggled her fingers in a wave and watched as her roommate left. In all honesty, she didn't expect to feel as content as she did with the fact that her roommate was dating her ex-boyfriend. But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. It just meant that the hurt was dull enough for her to push through. And she was happy for Elphaba. She really was.
Fiyero shifted his weight as he waited at the base of the stairs. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He supposed it was because this was their first "official" date.
"Hi."
He looked up and a smile spread across his face as Elphaba came down the stairs. "Hi. You look nice."
"Thank you."
"I recognize that dress."
"It's the one I wore Lurlinemas Eve… to the theater."
"I know."
The two stared at each other, neither saying anything until Fiyero awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Should we… go?" He didn't plan for it to sound that weird… but it did.
Elphaba brushed her hair away from her face and nodded, taking Fiyero's arm and walking with him to the waiting taxi.
The ride was relatively short for a trip across town. The couple made small talk, but a real conversation didn't stick.
"This makes you feel awkward, doesn't it?" Fiyero asked once they were seated at their table.
Elphaba glanced up from her menu. "Do you feel awkward?"
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Fae, you're evading my questions by answering my questions with your own questions."
She closed the booklet. "A bit."
"Why?"
"Because part of me still says you should be with Galinda."
"Elphaba –"
"But the other part really likes you and wants to have a good time."
"Let's listen to that part."
The waiter came to get their food and drink orders, but not without staring at Elphaba for a bit longer than Fiyero was comfortable with. He was able to rectify it with a subtle, yet hard look, but Elphaba noticed regardless.
"I saw that."
"What do you think of Dr. Targeious?"
"Fiyero –"
He looked up at her, flashing her a significant look.
Elphaba sighed, conceding. "She terrifies me."
"Really? You don't show it."
"Of course not. I can't. She clearly preys on the students' fear of her. To be honest, I considered dropping the course."
"You? Dropping a course?"
"I know it sounds crazy," she chuckled. "If the class wasn't a requirement, I definitely wouldn't be taking it. I'm not much of a philosophy person, but the subject isn't boring."
"I'm glad one of us thinks so."
"And I can respect her for living up to her nickname."
"I swear, that woman definitely eats nails like popcorn."
Elphaba gave him a full-on laugh as their food came. The prince smiled, glad that the Elphaba he got to know over Lurlinemas break wasn't completely gone from him.
"Your hairclip –"
"It's Galinda's."
The prince paused, his forkful of mashed potatoes halfway to his mouth. "You and Glin are getting along now?"
"I suppose you could say that. She helped me get ready and didn't make me look like a complete fool, so…"
"I'm… glad you two are beginning to see eye-to-eye. She really is a good friend. And she's not as surface-level as she pretends to be. She just... cares too much about what other people think sometimes. But she has a good heart."
Elphaba nodded, remembering that night she came back from the infirmary, and the chocolate chip cookies, and the special moment they had telling their secrets to each other. "I guess… not everyone is who they seem at first."
"I guess so."
"She even gave me a nickname."
The prince laughed. "What horrendously perky nickname has she bestowed upon you?"
"Elphie."
"At least yours suits you. Whenever she calls me 'Fifi', I think she's calling a pet pink poodle. And I have no doubt Galinda has – at some point in her life, if not right now – owned a pink poodle."
They continued their conversation through bites of their food. The taxi home was quiet, with Elphaba resting comfortably against Fiyero's side.
"I had fun," Fiyero whispered, breaking their silence.
"I did, too. Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Why are you thanking me?"
"For giving me a chance. For not pushing me away – I know half of you wanted to. And for –" He was cut off by Elphaba gently pressing her lips against his.
"That?" she whispered, gently pulling away.
"Yes… that."
Fiyero dropped her off in front of Crage Hall, with one final kiss before going back to his own dorm. As soon as she unlocked the door and pushed it open, Galinda was practically on top of her, demanding details of the date.
Elphaba sighed. She was really going to have to get used to this "friendship" thing.
